benhamtroll

Thanks, it's good to be back.

Hey-ho, Reaper buddies . . . Remember me? I do, a little. Man, it's been a long time since I posted here. Life's been crazy out here in the real world. I was just sitting down this evening and realized I haven't even LOOKED at these forums for ages. Crazy. So, what have I been up to, you ask? Well, that's a good question. In the time I've been gone I've moved back to Oregon from Wyoming. I don't know if I've been in here since then. Maybe I have. I've been working as the Scene Shop manager at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. That means that I manage a group of students, and together we build the sets for all of the theater productions. Apart from the pneumatic staple I got shot through my right index finger in January, it's a pretty good gig. I've also started my own blog. Feel free to read it if you like. I'm now making an attempt to start my acting career, after a long hiatus to put my wife through graduate school. I'm currently in production on two seperate films. One is a very short student project at the university, and the other is an independent short film that will hopefully make it into a real festival next year. Let's hope. This is one of the primary focuses (focii?) of my blog. I haven't touched a mini in something like a year and a half. My W&N Series 7 is languishing in fairly expensive depression. Perhaps I'll have time and inspiration to pick it up again soon. Anyway, I thought I'd just check in with my old friends over here. Hopefully I'll do it more often than every six months from now on . . .

ACTUALLY . . . there's been many a time that I've come downstairs in the morning to find my wife furtively gnawing on a piece of steak or roast from the night before.

The fact that he sold it for over $40 cracks me up. Those crazy Canadians!

Well, finished week 1 of the 12 week challenge on Saturday. Went pretty well. I actually kind of wne through junk food withdrawl, similar to quitting smoking, only worse for me. Kind a creepy actually. to think how much of a hold candy bars and potato chips have over us. I haven't lost any weight yet, but my energy level is WAY up and I feel pretty good. I'm sure there will be more noticeable results as time goes along.

Thanks, Darkstar. That's actually really helpful. I can usually pick up MSG pretty easily. Looks like I've missed it in some of these.

I really recommend you read the book. It gives you all kinds of good advice on just how to do it. It's pretty darn motivational, too.

There are a couple of different options that work, actualy. I'm not working at the moment, so I can actually make myself healthy snacks and whatnot. I'm kind of a fan of tuna fish sandwiches right now. Easy, high in protein, and not too bad on the carbs if you use whol wheat bread. The other thing that works nicely is the supplements that are marketed specifically for the program. I've bought a couple boxes of the BfL Nutrition Bars, which have a full nutritional element and taste pretty good. At about a $1 apiece, they're not THAT expensive, and you'd probably spend more than that on whole food anyway. They're good when you're busy at work, although my wife sometimes has trouble, since she's seeing clients all the time. Yeah. The soda thing is hard, as is the beer thing, especially on game nights. Fortunately, I get that cheat day to feed those cravings. I have been drinking coffee in the morning still, but I switched to sugar-free creamer, although I may do the fat-free instead, since I'm thinking it's the fat content that's more of an issue at this point that 1 or 2 grams of carbs. I'm just happy I don't have to count calories on this one . . .

Howdy, all! I wanted to share some of my new resolves, since having other people in on these things helps to make the process easier . . . This last week, my wife and I decided to take the Body-for-Life Challenge. If you're not familiar with Body-for-Life, or the Challenge, visit Bodyforlife.com for tons of info. In a nutshell, it's a nutrition and fitness plan that is designed to completely reshape your body in 12 weeks, or at least get you solidly on the road to doing so. But, even more than that, it focuses on changing your life and the way you think about yourself and the way that you live to help you be healthier, more positive, and happier. Essentially, it builds off of basic principles used by bodybuilders for a long time, eat less food more often, focus on the proper nutrition levels, and do shorter, more intense work-outs. You eat six meals per day, about every three hours, which is optimum for kick-starting your metabolism to get your body to burn more fat and build muscle. You work out six days a week, alternating between upper body, lower body, and aerobic. On the seventh day, you get a day off, both from excercise and the diet plan. You can eat the sugars and fats you didn't chow down on during the week, which really helps you stick with the program. Well, after one week (almost), I'll give you this report: I'm sore. My quads are pretty tight and burning, and walking up and down the stairs to my bedroom is a chore. My wife laughs as I do it, since I look something like an arthritic old man as I do it. This will pass. It always does. The beginning of the week was tough, food wise. I view it very similarly to when I quit smoking. I was a big muncher, and had quite the sweet tooth. I would eat junk food off and on all day long, in general. Even with six meals a day, I was still feeling hungry, and the cravings for chips, cookies, candy bars, and soda were almost unbearable. Like with smoking cessation, day three was the worst. Things are looking up, though, and I had a yummy breakfast this morning of a whole wheat english muffing with fat-free cream cheese and smoked salmon. Can't be too dissapointed with a diet that lets you eat things like that! You just have to be creative and thoughful about your food, and PLAN. One of the mantras of the Program is "If you fail to plan, your planning to fail." Kind of trite, I know, but it actually applies. Anyway, I wanted to have as many of you as are interested in involved in this process with me, and I'd actually like to invite anyone who wants to to join me on the journey. I'll post weekly updates here, mainly for my own benefit, but hopefully I can inspire some other people to take some positive steps as well. Wish me luck over the neck 11 weeks! Hopefully the motivation and energy this program provides me will lead me back into painting again . . .

I kind of think I would have liked Cheyenne better. Evanston was nice and close to Park City, but just not close enough.

Yes, back in Oregon, out of Wyoming. My opinion of Wyoming: A great place to visit. Not a great place to live. If the good stuff were accesible for more that 3 months out of the year, it would be better. Anyway. Where in Wyoming are you at, Cu?

Hmm. Real name gets me Maximus Smurf. Benhamtroll cranks out Futzy Smurf. I kinda like Maximus Smurf . . . He's the one with the oiled pecs . . .

Well, we've been here a little over a week now, and it's starting to feel like home. Our stuff got here late last week, and we've been working hard to get things put away, or at least unpacked. It's kind of refreshing, actually. So, you may be seeing more of me around the place now. Again. Wheeee!

Yep, it's almost here. The packers will be here tomorrow morning, and the truck will be loaded tomorrow and Friday. Don't know if I'm going to get back in here before the computer gets boxed up, so I thought I'd just pop in. The driver actually stopped by today to take a look at stuff. He said he may be a bit short on space, but if the packers pack thing tight enough we should be able to get it all in. That was stress I did NOT need right now . . . Fortunately, we were quoted out with the washer and dryer being moved, which it's not, so I'm hoping that will make enough room for eveything else. There are times when having a mover is actually MORE stressful . . . Anyway, if I don't check in again before I go, I'll see everyone again in about a week, maybe sooner.

At the moment, I do absolutely nothing, since my last day of work at the crap job I had was last week. Don't know exactly what I'll be doing after that. I WILL be starting to get going on my acting career. I won't make much at first, and most likely will never be famous, but I'll love it.